Myanmar Surpasses Afghanistan as World's Top Opium Producer: UNODC

Myanmar has surpassed Afghanistan as the world's largest source of opium, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The decline in opium cultivation in Afghanistan, following a Taliban-imposed drug ban in 2022, has shifted global supply to Myanmar. The political, social, and economic instability caused by the 2021 coup in Myanmar has driven many farmers to turn to poppy farming. Opium cultivation areas have expanded in Myanmar's border regions, particularly in northern Shan State, Chin, and Kachin states. The surge in fighting between the Myanmar military and armed ethnic-minority groups is expected to further accelerate the expansion of opium cultivation.